Wednesday, September 22, 2010

3DS - too expensive and too late?

The 3DS will go on sale in Japan on February 26th for 25.000 Yen, which amounts to $300 or €220. In North America and Europe the device will launch in March. No specific date has been set.

According to information for investors, the standard bundle will include a recharging cradle (possibly using induction), six AR cards (which will enable gameplay familiar from the PlayStation3 game ´Eye of Judgment´) and a telescopic stylus.

Having had extensive hands-on time with the device twice already, I can mirror the almost exclusively positive feedback by other journalists. Especially the hardware has been upped significantly. According to IGN, developers believe that the device can easily hold its own against current home consoles.

Numerous developers working on software for the platform have likened its graphical capabilities to current-generation consoles like the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, albeit on smaller, lower-resolution screens.

However, there had been rumours that the 3DS would launch this year. And I myself have been expecting a $200 price tag, which is now out of the question. The 3DS may come too late and at too high a price to meet Nintendo's own high expectations. It will still be tremendously successful, for sure. But I believe that a lot will depend on the non-game offering, particularly a movie download platform would help the 3DS greatly.

On a separate note, some more rumours about a Wii sucessor have surfaced. We already know that the Wii 2 will be 3D compatible. Now, Spanish gaming site 3DJuegos (Spanish) is quoting ´Metroid´ co-creator Yoshio Sakamoto as follows:

At Nintendo we always have the obligation to surprise users with a new console. We have never done what others do. We prefer to create something new that catches people's attention, and I think this will continue at this time. Surely the new Nintendo machine will leave you all with your mouth open.

Lastly, I just wanted to throw one late gamescom impression out there. I have seen a demo of ´Bioshock Infinite´ and this game is going to be huge, believe me.

EDIT It seems that I am not the only one surprised by the 3DS price tag for the Japanese market. Only the German edition of Gamesindustry.biz called the price of "only €220""quite affordable". At least we know why Nintendo is tearing down the pain barrier in handheld pricing. Bloomberg (via Andriasang, thanks to Joystiq) is reporting that we, the game journalists, are to blame. It was our unanimously positive response that justified the price tag for Nintendo president Satoru Iwata. As collective jaws dropped, the price tag rose.

If we launched it this calendar year, it would be difficult to produce a sufficient amount. Also, in terms of the completion level of the product, we believe that it will reach the most satisfactory level by our standards if we will launch it on the date we just announced. (...)

[Regarding the] concern that it is more expensive than Wii. Portable video game machines integrate both a gaming device and a screen. You do not need any other hardware devices to be connected in order for you to play with it. We do not think, "the price relationship between portable devices and home consoles must stay intact simply because it used to be that way."

While it is always better for the price to be as accessible as possible, in terms of its cost, and in order to make a healthy and sustainable business for both the hardware and the software, and given the positive reactions since E3, which give us the indication on how the public are likely to appreciate the value of Nintendo 3DS if they can have hands-on experiences and, above all, by taking other factors into careful consideration, we have concluded that we should propose this price point to our consumers.

The fact that Nintendo addresses these rather negative issues in such an open way clearly shows that I was right to pick up on it. Also, I believe that we can now assume that the 3DS will be more expensive than the Wii in all territories. Iwata specifically says that a handheld can cost more than a home console, so I now expect price points of $249 and €249 in North America and Europe, respectively.

Concerning the price tag: The yen has been getting very expensive lately. A year ago 25.000 yen were corresponding more to 180€ (http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=25000+yen). But since european prices seem to be more related to the US, i´d expect 250€/250$. Maybe we get lucky with 225€ (or maybe the yen drops again and we will see 200€, but that sounds more like a dream)...

I don't have issues. I just look at the facts and cut the fanboy crap. Anything above 200$/€ is simply too much for a handheld period. But, like I said, the 3DS will be "tremendously successful" regardless. So whose side am I taking again?

Hi Falk.

Thanks for your great comment. Interesting facts. I wasn`t aware of recent fluctuations in the exchange rate. If Nintendo could go for 200$/€ in North America and Europe, respectively, then they will sell like hotcakes. But I expect that at anything above that, they may miss their ambitious goals of selling four times as many units as the iPad in the first month.

THE 3DS IS TOOOOOO LATE correction there is no device like 3DS with a 3d no glasses screen and gaming etc etc etc ITS THE FIRST OF ITS KIND!!!!

iphone4/ipad HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH total dog shit compared to 3DS for gaming and fun and graphics

3DS graphics have blown citidel demo out of the water and 3D on top yummy yummy 3DS takes handheld gaming into the future citidel hahahahaha what a obsolete load of trash

the way nintendo is using wifi and the whole mii thing evolving is genius and simple 3DS offers all the ds pick up and play with all the core gaming shit as well

this thing is a ps3 x360 wii DSi hybrid like device in the palm of your hand ITS THE FIRST OF ITS KIND HOW IS THAT TOOOO LATE....

its 3d screen with 3d camera and a 2d camera IPAD HAS NO CAMERAS WHATS SO EVER AND TOTALY NO 3D

move has been found out in aregens qeast reviews ps3 veresion move controls lag like fuck and do not work the wii version has tight real time fully working motion controls the move controls are a disaster

kinect requires a huge clear room and perfect even light and no back ground sound in other words its a joke and doesn't work

youtube is awash with move calibration issues videos

yet its nintendo who is doomed and has issues with 3DS

I KID YOU NOT MONTHLY SALES WILL MATCH PS3 X360 DS AND MOVE AND KINECT CONBINED

THEN TELL ME ITS TOOOOOOO LATEEE

ASS-HOLE SERIOUSLY YOU ARE A RETARD

3DS IS DISRUPTION TO SONYS 3D PLANS AND MICROSOFT AND SONY IN GENERAL WAKE UP YOU BLIND FUCK

DS DSi Wii 3DS all selling at profit at the same time

vs dead psp slow ps3 and slow x360 ARE YOU SERIOUS NINTENDO HAS YET ANOTHER SLICE OF GAMINS PIE

Who the fuck are you talking to? You cannot possibly be talking to me here, because you are talking to someone who said Nintendo is doomed (apparently anyway, your rant is a little tough to decipher, even for a fanboy troll). So why don't you open your bloody eyes, switch on that brain cell for a minute and read what it actually says here? Reality is a highly recommendable realm to live in, old bean.

REPORT ON WII SPECULATION AND OTHER CLOSLY RELATED NEWS YOU ARE NOT DOING THIS AND HAVE TURNED INTO SOME DERANGED GAF HARDLY-CORE NONSENSE PERSON

RIGHT HERE IS THE LATEST WII SPECULATION AS THAT GERMAN SEEMS UNABLE TO SUPPLY IT

marvewll the rumored 3DS chip builder a company that redesigns and sells ARM based cpus in system on chip designs has been bragging about its chips in a console,this has been linked to 3DS but it seems 3DS does in fact stick to acctual ARM cpus rather than marvell ARM copys so to speak but marvell could be involved!!!!!

marvell have been asked again about this there answer was very interesting WE HAVE A NEW QUADCORE ARMADA THATS A BIT TO MUCH FOR A BATTERY AND IS MORE SUITED TO A DEVICE WITH A POWER CORD I.E A HOME DEVICE WE CAN CONFIRM ARE NEW 4XCORE ARMADA (A DESK TOP SPEC SPEED) IS TO BE USED IN A NEW GAMES CONSOLE

DS ARM WII HAS A CO CPU BASED ON ARM

MARVELLS CPUS ARE BASED ON ARM ETHER ARM OR MARVELL IN 3DS

I THINK THERES FOR MORE CHANCE THIS IS REAL THAN THE TEGRA 2 IN 3DS RUMOR....

4XCPUS WITH CUSTOM CO-PROCESSORS A DMP GPU LIKE 3DS and some edram sounds very likley to me but i dout its going to seee release in the next 12.18 months

based on DS . DSi .DS-XL.Wii etc and all previous prices in USA vs japan theres always a drop in price for north america it looks 229.99/249.99 it does not = 300 dollars that is a currsncy rate direct comparason WITCH HAS NEVER EVER HAPPENED AT USA RETAIL

I just wanted to drop in and remind you not to let some of these airheads get to you.

Like someone else once said, it takes thick skin to run a blog like this, and unlike some, most of us really appreciate it.

I've been coming here since the Wii was in it's Revolution days, and look forward to returning in the future. Keep up the great work.

Thanks for your comments and your great support. I have been accused of being a fanboy of every company out there, so I guess I must be pretty objective. I really do not let things get to me, at all. But I am irritated by stupidity and like to put my finger on the sore spot, I must admit.

Anyway, thanks again for your kind comments. It is comments like yours that keep me writing this blog (and eventually finishing that Nibris post, I promise!)

Hi Anonymous.

APPLE iCONSOLE,SEGA DREAMCAST2 there could be something in it or marvell are BSing like the tegra guys were with 3DS to boost stocks

If you ask me, Apple will never move back into the traditional console space. Even die-hard Apple fanboys have never heard of the Pippin, that is how bad they failed back then. It is just a market you need to bury billions into to have a vague chance of getting a shaky second place (see who I am takling about here?).

It'll still sell no matter if it is 300, look at the wii when it was 250 thats all you need.

Also I'm pretty sure you forgot so whenever you want to actually post that article on what happened to sadness would be great cause it's definitely past that few weeks mark you quoted over a month ago.

resent speculation IBM have stated cell like spu,s will find there way into main line powerpc cpus and seem to be suggesting a nintendo/ IBM future..... looks like cell may end up in wii 2 or ps4 or both or even a co-op console who knows but IBM seem to want to let us know there involved or want to be.....

in 2007 nintendo stated they wished for 35 million wii sales by some point in 2012 they went flying past 30 million half way thru 2010 clearly going to go past that 35 million sold in USA a good year or even 2 eariler than they aimed for (fastest selling console in history by far) ps3 will never ever come close to that ever

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I don't have issues. I just look at the facts and cut the fanboy crap. Anything above 200$/€ is simply too much for a handheld period. But, like I said, the 3DS will be "tremendously successful" regardless. So whose side am I taking again?